Category Archives: Computers/Electronics

Books/Literature, Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Computers/Electronics, Movies, Music, TV

Is the Internet worth it?

Fascinating article by Andrew Leonard for Salon.com regarding something that has been on my mind often of late:  Despite all the great stuff it offers, what of the negatives regarding the Internet?  Is all the good worth all the bad, both potential and realized?

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/05/creative_destruction_government_snooping_is_the_internet_worth_it/

Mr. Leonard’s focus is mostly on governmental “snooping” and journalism but it also can relate to the general impact of the Internet on everything, including loss of privacy both unintended and unrealized.  For example, I recall in the earlier, wildly popular days of Facebook that some clever thieves realized that some posters on that social media website would over share their day to day activities, to the point where they posted information about upcoming vacations, including where they were going, when they were going, and for how long.

Which meant these clever thieves now knew when a poster’s home was potentially unguarded and empty and for what specific period of time, making it a perfect target for theft.

Revelations about the Government’s internet snooping should be alarming to most people, but there are other economic factors that I’ve were influenced by the rise of the internet.  I’ve mentioned before how certain “mom and pop” type stores simply cannot compete with full service internet “stores” like Amazon.com and how even some bigger retail chains, including bookstores and electronic stores, now are in danger of closing their doors because of the increasing ease of purchase and seemingly unlimited stock available online.

But there exists yet another big threat created by the internet, one that personally scares me for different reasons:  The possibility of creative destruction.  If you think about entertainment, you think about a few things: Music, movies, television, books/novels, comic books, etc.  All of these creative endeavors are now victims to pirate websites.

Looking for the latest album by artist X?  Download it for free…sometimes before the album is officially released!  Looking forward to seeing movie X?  Same thing.  Novels?  Comic books?  Television shows?  Ditto, ditto, and ditto.

Where will this piracy of creative ideas eventually lead?  If you’re a struggling artist, there’s precious little money to be made in your works.  Whatever little bit you can scrape together is helpful and may allow you to hone your craft and allow you to make better and better product…provided you can indeed pay your bills.  But what if your current work(s) find their way to pirate websites and whatever meager amount of money you might have earned on your current, best works takes a hit because of illegal downloads?

And what of established artists?  Will movie/music companies become more and more fearful of signing off on a big budget item if the worry about how much they’ll lose on the illegal downloads of said item?  Is it possible some companies will simply give up on funding films/TV shows/music albums entirely?  And where will that leave many of us, audiences hungry for new entertainment?

As Mr. Leonard put it in his article:

…we are increasingly sensing that we have no idea where this techno-roller coaster is ultimately headed. There’s a sense that things are out of control. Our growing uneasiness doesn’t jibe well with all the hype about how the world is being made a better place by a proliferation of smartphone apps.

Books/Literature, Computers/Electronics, Movies, Music

The new (movie) media…

Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits offers an interesting “rant” (its rant number two, about halfway down the column) here:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/050113_1515

Basically, he’s worried about movie studios and “digital streaming”.  I think he hits the bullseye in many respects with the rant, noting that when you purchase a “stream” of a film, you really don’t own it.  Yes, you can watch the film but, should the movie studios in the future decide to remove the film from their streaming services (for whatever reason), you’re essentially out of luck.  The film you “purchased” is gone.

Mr. Hunt goes on to compare this with music streaming and, effectively, champions keeping a “hard copy” of whatever entertainment (be it music or motion picture) you may have because of the possibility that somewhere down the road the thing you spent money on might no longer be accessible to you.

I can certainly sympathize with Mr. Hunt’s worries.  Technology has shifted dramatically.  A few years ago, I had to go to the local electronics store and bookstore to see the latest movies/books/music that was available for purchase.  Now, there are no bookstores anywhere near me, and its been quite a while since I’ve gone out to the local Best Buy.

If I’m purchasing music, I do so exclusively online (and, yes, I do actually purchase the music!) via download.  I keep copies of my music on my harddrive and a backup drive, but the idea of having “physical” copies on CD has become a thing of the past.

So too it seems with most books.  If I want one, I tend to go to Amazon and download it and read it on my tablet.  If I want a physical copy of a book, I similarly order it (usually through Amazon) and wait the few days it takes before arriving at my home.  It’s hard to believe it, but I don’t miss the bookstores.

As for movies, I realized early on that, like laserdiscs, there were a bunch of films I had to have early one, and I spent an awful lot of money getting my hands on them.  I moved to DVD and then to BluRay, but once I had those “essentials”, my spending dropped dramatically.  I tend to use Netflix to check out “new” films, and if I like them enough, I will purchase a physical copy, but I can honestly say many of the newer films I’ve seen are decent but only a few have been worth actually owning.

What is the point of all this?

I guess it boils down to this:  What used to be standard is no longer so.  We used to want books/movies/music, we’d go to a book/music/movie store to buy them.  We’d have the physical copies.  Now, we go online and do one of three things: download the material, stream it, or purchase physical copies which are sent to our home.

Which means that the physical shops I used to see are slowly, inevitably, dying out.  As I said before, I don’t have a bookstore close to my house.  And I live in a BIG city.  The nearest bookstores are at least a half hour to forty five minutes away.  As for music stores, forget it.  The only movie store is a Best Buy about twenty minutes away and, as I noted before, I barely go there anymore.

And I don’t miss doing so.

The fact is a that computers and the internet have created the proverbial better mousetrap, but I worry about the consequences.  Less physical stores means less places for people to hang out and meet other people.  Also, less places for employment.  When we were younger, many of us worked in a record or bookstore.  No longer.  A big section of business has effectively been compressed into an online system of which Amazon is king and iTunes is running a close second.

Unquestionably, I have access to everything I want and/or need within my fingertips.  I can find obscure films or music or books without the hassle of running to different stores searching (often in vain) for what I want.

But this instant gratification comes with a cost locally.

It is better for the consumers, I believe.  But is it better?

Computers/Electronics

Why are PC sales declining?

Its a hot topic:  PC sales have fallen 14 percent worldwide in the last quarter.  Is the PC computer dead?  And if so, why?

Will Oremus at Slate.com thinks the reason sales of PCs are tanking may be because…they’ve gotten too good.  I tend to agree:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/04/12/why_pc_sales_are_declining_old_pcs_still_work_just_fine.html

Back when PCs first appeared, there was a very noticeable difference between each new generation.  My first IBM PC, the 8088, was (I felt) a good computer.  Until the newfangled 286 model appeared and absolutely blew it away.  The next year or so appeared a 386 model and that blew the 286 completely out of the water.  Ditto for the 486 and, subsequently, the Pentium.

And then, things simply slowed down.  PCs had incredible speed and it was peripherals which were now improving.  More hard drive memory, better video/sound cards, CD/DVD drives, etc.  But the computers themselves reached a level of, if not “perfection”, a level where they were good enough that you didn’t feel you needed to get the latest model.

I picked up new computers every year or two yet the computer I’m writing on now is over five years old…and I haven’t even considered buying a new one.  Instead, I’ve changed the hard drive (the original one crapped out), put in a better video card, and bought a large flatscreen monitor (my original monitor, which came with the computer, was the old heavy glass monitor, a relic today).

So PC sales are falling…so what?  As much as I like my smartphone and my tablet, neither of them can take the place of my PC.  I use it for my writing and for my art.  I keep my music on it and all my photographs and files.

The PC, I suspect, will always exist in some form.  Perhaps its rebirth (sales-wise) lies in a technology that is just about to be released.

We’ll see.

Computers/Electronics, General

The future of energy…?

Absolutely fascinating article by Farhad Manjoo for Slate magazine regarding what could be the breakthrough necessary to finally transition us into what may well be the next phase of energy usage, one that is significantly less expensive and easier to use than our current batteries.  The process involves Graphene Supercapacitors, and the article follows:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/alternative_energy/2013/03/graphene_supercapacitors_small_cheap_energy_dense_replacements_for_batteries.html

I think we’re on the verge of exciting times, though the article does end with a note of caution.  Hopefully, this new technology will indeed be the answer to humanity’s energy needs.

I do find it curious how we tend to find solutions to problems as they rear their heads.  Gas/energy prices are on the rise and we use a whole lot of energy in our daily lives, not just for transport but for the very many gadgets we operate, from computers to tablets to cell phones.  Given the lucrative market, it was only a matter of time before a “better mousetrap” would be created.

Books/Literature, Computers/Electronics

First Book Written on a Word Processor…?

Interesting article by Matthew Kirschenbaum and presented on Slate regarding what was the first ever book written on a word processor:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/03/len_deighton_s_bomber_the_first_book_ever_written_on_a_word_processor.html

Timing is a funny thing.  Ever since I was very young I’ve wanted to write but as I grew older and began doing just that, as much as I loved to sit behind the typewriter and work on my stories I quickly found this to be a very frustrating thing to do.  I would write something as small as a sentence and then realize it should come later or earlier or wasn’t written quite right…and I would be tempted to rip the paper out of the machine and start over again.  The fact is I’m not one of those people who can write something and be “happy” with it in its first draft form, as opposed to…

In his book on writing, author Stephen King notes that he writes a book, lets it sit and “cool down” for a while before going back to it for a rewrite.  After the rewrite, the book is ready to go.  Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator and author of Perry Mason, was known to knock out a book sometimes in as little time as a day, often dictating his book onto old recording instruments and having his secretary subsequently type it up.

To me writing a first draft of a book involves considerable concentration and thought.  From a plot standpoint, my stories involve many moving parts, all of which must ultimately fit together for the whole to “work”.  Thus I’m usually writing passages then having to go back and add things to the passages or put in more material before or after said passage.  I might even jump back a chapter or two and add a whole new section.  By the time I have that first draft, I’m keenly aware that this is only the first step in what will ultimately be a very long process.

As I mentioned before, I’m usually not approaching satisfaction with my work until at least getting to a fifth draft.  Most of the major plot issues are resolved in the first full rewrite and my focus gradually shifts from plot issues in subsequent drafts to grammatical issues.  Regardless, this part of the process can take the better part of a year before being fully done.  if I were limited to using a typewriter, I’m certain the process would take two or three times as long…and I can’t help but wonder if I would have the patience to make a single book, much less the eight I currently have available via Amazon.

In fact, in the first few years of writing I was using typewriters and was skirting very close to realizing the process of making a book might be simply too difficult for my style of writing.  As it turned out, I was lucky.  In approximately 1983, I purchased an Atari 800, my first personal computer.  Compared to what’s available today, the device was from the stone age.  But it had a printer (a very slow one, granted) and, more importantly, a word processing program.

I was smitten with the word processor and realized immediately this was the device I needed if I was to ever get a chance to write the works I wanted to.  I gave up on typewriters and, in the intervening years and through the various computers, laptops, and tablets I’ve owned have made sure to always have a good word processor available.

Yet I wonder…Had I been born even five years earlier than I was, what would have happened to my younger self if I had been using typewriters exclusively to try to write my novels?  Would I have persevered and nonetheless written my novels or would the frustration of the re-write proven too much?

I wonder.

Books/Literature, Computers/Electronics, General

This and that…

A couple of fascinating articles I ran across, one from Slate.com (not to be confused with Salon.com) and the other from Salon.com (not to be confused with Slate.com).

The first article is by Andrew Leonard and can be found on Salon.com.  It concerns the new 3D printing technology and the fact that it might render any gun control legislation moot:

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/will_computers_kill_gun_control/

Absolutely loved the article and, moving past the implications of 3D printing regarding gun control, one begins to wonder about what other things the future of 3D printing might impact as well.  Will there come a time, for example, when 3D printing technology will become so advanced (ie able to make items made of metal) that one might be able, for example, to create a new sink for one’s house?  A hose?  A TV set?  If all we need are the raw materials and a program/schematic to print what we want, what effect will this have on industry?  Like MP3s, will there be websites containing downloadable schematics for just about everything we need?  And, returning to the weapon debate, will we be able to “make” our own rocket launcher?

Or perhaps there will come a time when there will be 3D printer “stores” with really big 3D printers within and one could show up with a schematic for your favorite car and, within the day, they might be able to “print” you all the parts to assemble the car on your own at home.

Again, where does this technology leave industry?  And employment?

The second article can be found on Slate.com and is by Mark O’Connell.  It concerns the writing of one Amanda McKittrick Ros, whom many peers (and, apparently, modern readers as well) consider one of the worst writers ever.  A very amusing article:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/01/was_amanda_mckittrick_ros_the_worst_novelist_in_history.html

Reading about Ms. Ros made me think of what is possibly her counterpart in the movie business, the notorious Ed Wood.  I loved this line by Mr. O’Connell which describes the level of “badness” of Ms. Ros’ work:

Ros’ writing is not just bad, in other words; its badness is so potent that it seems to undermine the very idea of literature, to expose the whole endeavor of making art out of language as essentially and irredeemably fraudulent—and, even worse, silly.

Oh my…

Computers/Electronics, General

Distance record set for quantum teleportation…

Fascinating article from MSNBC.com concerning a new distance record for the process of “quantum teleportation”:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48933348/ns/technology_and_science-science/

The subject matter is intriguing and opens the door to what may lie in the future regarding the next generation of the internet, an internet that will be considerably faster and far more secure.

Intriguing stuff!

Computers/Electronics

Apple vs. Android…

Fascinating, and brief, article by Dan Lyons for The Daily Beast regarding the Apple vs. Android patent war and the possible outcomes…

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/22/apple-vs-android-war-without-end.html

One of the most beautiful things about Captialism is that when companies fight head to head, the end result is usually a net benefit for consumers:  In theory, each company tries very, very hard to ensure their product is better overall (function, form, durability) than their competitors.  And if the products are comparable (or even identical), then consumers could also benefit from price wars.  After all, if the companies’ products are indeed identical, the only way to get consumers to buy one product over the other is by selling them for less.

With regards to computers and computer related products, unfortunately for Apple much of their technology -great thought it may be- was not created in a vacuum and it was only a matter of time before others would compete head to head with them.  Looking at Apple’s products, from my perspective the company has taken many common individual components (personal computers, touchscreen technology, cellular phone systems, etc.) and mixed them together to create their beautiful package.

The problem, for Apple, is that because the individual components are common, it is difficult to then turn around and say the overall package is somehow unique.  This is why I suspect Apple isn’t doing quite as well with their patent lawsuits as they probably hoped they would.

Then again, I’m far from some technological wizard and for all I know every bit of opinion presented above is dead wrong.  Regardless, I hope that Apple continues to make their beautiful products.  I also hope that the lack of success in their lawsuits against other companies encourages them to up their competition with the Android market and make even better products.

And I hope the Android makers do the same.

In the end, we the consumer will be the beneficiaries.

Computers/Electronics

Apple’s Cash on Hand

Yesterday Apple revealed the extent of their financial success during the past quarter.  And quite a haul they had:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/apples-cash-on-hand_n_1229529.html

The bottom line?  From the article:

The company posted a quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion.

A net profit of 13.06…billion?!

What makes the above link worth clicking is that we’re offered 9 things you could pay for with this amount of cash.

Whether a fan of Apple products or not, there is little denying the amount of money the company makes is nothing short of staggering.